Sew Happy Wednesday - Tutorials for Making Your Own Shopping Bags

Here are two tutorials for making your own shopping bags. One is a soft bag that would be comfortable to carry on your shoulder perhaps in a farmer's market. The other is a large sturdy tote for carrying large amounts of groceries home from the store.

Photo: Sew4Home.com

Soft and Stuffable Cotton Shopping Bags

Photo: Sew4Home.com

DIY Re-usable Grocery Bags

Sew Happy Wednesday - Two Quick and Easy Quilt Tutorials

These tutorials are not as in depth as some, but the information is enough to make the quilts if you already have some quilting skills. :-)

As usual, I have no control over ads or recommended videos.

Sew Happy Friday - Scrappy Jelly Roll String Quilt Tutorial

This quilt is a version of the jelly roll race quilt. It's a great way to use up scraps. If you enjoy making this type of quilt but don't like cutting all the 2" strips at one time, you can cut the strips ahead of time by cutting up your scraps from other projects as you do them. You might store the strips in containers by color. This way you can later select a pleasing mix of colors, or if you have many from on color group you can make a quilt from one color as this lady does in her demonstration.

If you don't want to do all the trimming of angles, you can make this quilt by just sewing the strips end to end. However, if you do that be sure to trim away any selvage edges first. Also, the angle cuts are what give the interesting points in this.

Sew Happy Friday - Tutorial for A Tissue Holder

Photo property of Stephanie at The Enchanting Rose.

Here is a tutorial from Stephanie at The Enchanting Rose on how to make a super easy tissue holder from a vintage handkerchief. You could also use just a piece of fabric of your choice. I love vintage handkerchiefs, but I don't want the bother of washing them, so I don't use them. This is a very appropriate way to upcycle one, I think. :-)

Handkerchief Tissue Holder

Sew Happy Friday - A Tutorial for Memory Projects with Jenny Doan

Here is a tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Co. where Jenny Doan teaches how to make some memory quilt items with your loved one's clothing. There is also instructions for a simple pillow to make with a shirt. I suggest putting a pillow form inside rather than stuffing it directly with the poly-fiber filling because then you can take the outside cover off and wash it (it is made from a shirt, after all).

Also, remember that a lot of ties are not washable, so you may wish to make a wall hanging rather than a table runner if the ones you are working with require dry cleaning. Table runners used on the dining room table are more likely to get dirty and need to be cleaned.

This would be a nice way to use up clothing that you no longer use that still has a lot of wear in it as well. If you have some things that you especially like that you can't or don't wear any more, you could make a memory quilt of your own (or any family member's) clothing.

Fabrics that cannot be ironed are not a good idea for this project.

Sew Happy Friday - Tutorial for Cute Felt-Backed Coasters

Image property of sew4hom.com

These coaster would be a fun way to add some color to a room, or they would make great gifts. One might even fit into a card to be mailed. (Check to see if it needs extra postage.)

They also look pretty easy to make. If you have scraps of felt and some stray quilting patches, these would come together quite quickly. This is also a good way to practice top-stitching if it's something you struggle with. These coasters are not a big project and can be used for awhile and then discarded. This is much better place to learn a new skill than on a garment or a big project. :-) The tutorial is at sew4home.com

Link: Felt and Fabric Coasters

Sew Happy Friday - A Quick and Easy Potholder Tutorial

This is a quick, neat, and easy way to make a potholder (hot mat) for you kitchen or dining table. These would make nice housewarming gifts, among other things. For the batting you can use 100% cotton batting (wadding), heatproof batting, or a 100% cotton washcloth (without rounded corners). Do not use synthetic batting as it may melt with heat. This would be a great way to use up scraps or leftover 10" squares.

Enjoy! :-)

Sew Happy Friday - Tutorial for Burp Cloths

Here is a tutorial at the Strangers & Pilgrims on Earth blog for making easy burp cloths for babies. These are really easy to make and would make a fun gift done in pretty or cute flannel fabrics (as shown). Please leave a comment for JES if you like the idea. :-)

Easy to Sew Baby Gift Burp Cloths

P.S. These aren't just for moms. Anyone who helps burp the baby can use these. :-)

Sew Happy Friday - Patchwork Shower Curtain

Photo property of Better Homes and Gardens

Here are the instructions for this pretty patchwork shower curtain. This would be a great way to add color to a dull bathroom. Also, the curtain without the plastic shower liner could be used for a light weight, colorful curtain at a sliding glass door or large window. (You would need to adjust the size appropriately.) By the way, this would be a nice way to use up some larger scraps of fabric leftover from other projects.

GO HERE for instructions.

Sew Happy Friday - How Wool Is Made

Here is a short video that explains how wool is made into yarn and then woven into fabric.

Sew Happy Friday - Gift Bag Using Fabric Strips

Here's a tutorial for making a gift bag with 2 1/2" strips of fabric. You can use leftover strips from a jelly roll (pre-cut), or you can use ones that you cut yourself.




As some of my readers know, we don't celebrate Christmas, but this gift bag could be used in a lot of different ways. It would make a great bag for carrying small hand projects when traveling or visiting. It could be used as a "pajama pillow" for kids to store their p.j.s or nightgowns neatly during the day. It could be useful as gift bag for any occasion. (I think it would be nice with a scarf in it for a lady - Mother's Day, graduation, gifts for bride's maids, bridal shower, birthday, etc.)

One thing I want to note here: Vanessa used a Frixion pen for drawing the lines on the outside ("pretty side") surface of her bag. A friend and I have both found that sometimes Frixion pens will take out the color of the fabric when they are ironed to remove the ink. Although the disappearing ink which becomes invisible when touched with a hot iron has it's uses in sewing and quilting, we recommend that you only use it in areas where it will be hidden inside from view (like when she marks the corners on the inside). The pens are handy and you certainly can go ahead and use it the way that Vanessa does, but just know you may see faded lines when you iron it. However, if you are careful to sew directly on those lines they will be less visible, or perhaps not show at all.

Sew Happy Friday - A Tutorial for Pretty Cloth Tea Napkins (Serviettes)

Photo property of Stephanie at The Enchanting Rose

Make Your Own Tea Time Napkins

Here is a tutorial for some lovely cloth napkins (serviettes, or whatever you call them in your country :-) ). Stephanie posted made this useful tutorial at The Enchanting Rose. I hope someone enjoys making these pretties.

Sew Happy Friday -- Turtorial for An Easy Origami Bag

Here is a tutorial by Debbie Shore for a cute little bag that is quick and easy to make. These would make great gifts, an easy sewing project for beginners, or items for a fund raiser sale.

Sew Happy Friday - A Remix of the 9-Patch Block (Tutorial Link)

Photo property of Nicole Neblett at Mama Love Quilts.

Here is a tutorial for a nine patch block that lets us use up those little bits of fabric that are so hard to throw away, but sometimes harder still to use!  :-)  Thanks to Nicole at Mama Love Quilts, we can now make good use of them.

Tutorial: Remixed 9-Patch Block

Sew Happy Friday - Make An Easy Cathedral Window Block - Tutorial with Jenny Doan

Jenny Doan from Missouri Star Quilt Co. shows us how to make an easy cathedral window block in this tutorial.  Constructing an actual quilt or table runner is a bit more challenging than making a single block, so be sure to watch the instructions carefully if you plan to make anything that involves more than one block. :-)  I hope to make a single block, and will try to remember to let you know how it turns out.

Tutorial for the Wonky Four Patch Quilt Block

Here is another tutorial from Susan Claire, the Gourmet Quilter.  This one is a clever idea for a wonky 4 patch.  It will take a little fussing as far as making the template is concerned if you use that method, but it looks like a fun quilt and I like the way the lines appear "wavy" when she gets it done. This could be made in different sizes for different effects.  If you notice at the end, the quilt she made with smaller squares doesn't have as much "movement" as the one made with the larger squares.

This would be a nice project for using up scraps, leftover charm squares or for using your stash.

Just a reminder - I have no control over the advertisements that come up on these videso.

Sew Happy Friday - Tutorial for an Easy Starbust Quilt with Jenny Doan

Here is a tutorial for a quick and easy way to make a starburst quilt.  The "diamonds" will not be perfect diamonds, but they still look nice and this is a nice, fast way to make it.  Jenny Doan from the Missouri Star Quilt Co. does a great job to showing us how.


Note: I do not put affiliate links on this page at this time.

Sew Happy Friday - The Curved Log Cabin Quilt - Tutorial with Jenny Doan

Here is a tutorial for the curved log cabin block from Jenny Doan of the Missouri Star Quilt Co.  This is a very versatile block, and using pre-cuts will make it much quicker.



Look at some of the interesting and amazing ways to lay out this quilt here!

Sew Happy Friday - Potluck Bowl Covers Tutorial Link

Photo property of Lindsay Wilkes at The Cottage Mama.

Here is a link to a tutorial for some cute bowl covers.  You can use this for transporting food, but they can also be used in your own kitchen.  How fun to have something that matches your own decor. :-)

Pruple Potluck Bowl Covers

I think these would look nice in my kitchen made up with cheerful strawberry fabric, or red with white polka dots. :-)

Would you use these kind of covers?

Sew Happy Friday - Two Ways to Make Pretty Tote Bags

Since so many places are not allowing the use of plastic bags, it's nice to be able to make your own tote bags from inexpensive materials.  These two tutorials have some fun and fairly easy methods for doing that.

Photo property of Btez White.

Here is a great little tutorial on how to use an ordinary, boring tote bag as the lining and handles of a pretty tote in your choice of fabric.  This would also be a good way to make a stained or discolored tote look good again.

Tote Tricks 

Betz White tells us how to do this, and it is pretty simple stuff - if your tote doesn't have a box bottom.

At the end of the tutorial Betz says that you can do this with box bottom totes as well but, in thinking about it, I'm pretty sure you'd need to add some extra fabric to the top if you are going to box the bottom.  This might take some math so as not to end up with a shortage at the top edge.
Instructions on how to make boxed corners.

I don't have any totes to recover at the moment, but it would be an option to buy inexpensive, plain totes and use them for this purpose.

Here is a place where you may be able to find some inexpensive totes if you want to make a selection for yourself, for gifts or to use as gift bags for "wrapping" presents.  Be sure to pay attention to what how they are made.  Some of the totes here look like the flimsier "press fabric" that is not woven, but some kind of plastic product.  If you want real fabric, make sure to find some that are made that way.

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Photo property of The Sewing Dork.

Here is a tutorial from The Sewing Dork on how to upcycle a thrift store pillow case (or  one inherited or that you don't use) into a reusable grocery bag.  You can also use fabric that you already own, which is even better since you won't be spending any more money. :-)

Note: the pocket is totally not necessary.  Skip it if you don't want the hassle.